REV. ALLEN BRILL

Everybody Say 'Amen'

Every Sunday morning I speak a few brief words of prayer asking
for spiritual and material blessings. The prayer is offered in the
name of the triune God and the congregation responds, "Amen." That
little four-letter Hebrew word is a powerful one. By it, the ancient
Israelites bound themselves to the blessings and curses God attached
to the Law. By it, those who hear another's prayer today solemnly say
to the Lord, "I agree and ask the same."

As the service is conducted in our church, I don't have an
opportunity to check to see if everyone responds "Amen!" to our
weekly "collect" as we call this prayer. I'm facing the altar with my
back to the congregation, so it's possible that someone in the back
pew withholds their "Amen!" occasionally. But I'd be surprised. After
all, our regulars are there because they share a common confession of
faith. Visitors would surely be aware that they're entering a
Christian church because of the cross that stands in the yard and
they'd be on notice of our theology because of the "Lutheran" on the
church sign.

Such is not the case at a public meeting of a town council or
school board. One need not share the faith of elected officials or
the community majority in order to attend. In fact, the First
Amendment to our Constitution strictly forbids any such requirement.
At the typical meeting, there may be Baptists who prefer to pray "in
the name of Jesus," Catholics who pray the "Hail Mary!", Jews who
cannot say "Amen!" to either and atheists who do not pray at all. How
can someone lead a collective prayer and expect "amens" when those
present have not gathered out of common belief?

None of this is to say that prayer has no relevance to public
life. Our little flock prays every Sunday for our leaders in national
and state government as well as those risking their lives in defense
of our nation. Individual Christians can pray daily for those same
officials -- and sometimes more frequently, depending on the day's
events. Who would ever object upon observing a school board member
bow her head and pray silently for God's guidance, as a meeting was
about to begin? Christians can be thankful that the same First
Amendment that guarantees the Wiccan full status as a citizen also
protects the right of each of us to offer our individual prayers
without interference from the government.

But let's not pretend that a town council meeting is a gathering
where all people do -- or must -- believe the same with respect to
religion. I will not be able to say "Amen!" to the Catholic
commissioner's prayer to Mary nor will the Jew be able to affirm in
good conscience the Lutheran school board member's prayer "in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." If we
take just a moment to imagine ourselves in a community where we were
a small religious minority, it's not hard to understand how
uncomfortable and even excluded we might feel if a public meeting
began with a prayer to which we could not say "Amen!" If we take
seriously God's respect for our free will, it will be clear how
offensive it is to the Lord when we subtly use the government's
authority to extract an "Amen!" from those who do not believe.

It is sad that it has been necessary for the federal courts to
step in to protect South Carolina citizen Darla Kaye Wynne from her
self-professed Christian neighbors. Ms. Wynne, a Wiccan, only sought
to express herself at her town's council meetings on the rather
mundane matter of increasing police patrols to reduce drug dealing,
but she was met first with rude attempts to coerce her into
renouncing her religion and later with harassment and even violence.
The facts of the case should lead all fair-minded people of faith to
wonder whether prayer led by public officials can ever be a purely
benign matter.

Our city councilors and school board members should be relieved of
the burden of leading "collects" at public meetings. After all, those
who pray in the name of Jesus should remember his warning about the
risk of praying ostentatiously in front of others:

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen
by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
(Matthew 6:1)